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Tag Archives: Barenjager

Here’s a drink that really takes advantage of the beautiful ingredients we got at the farmer’s market. The meyer lemon, when cut into, reminded me of the first time I traveled to San Francisco in the winter time and was offered a sample of lemon at the markets of the Embarcadero. Lemon is a fruit I would never think to just bite into except on a dare, but because it was so fresh, I could enjoy its unmitigated and full-flavored sourness, detecting a sweetness I had never experienced before in a piece of citrus. It was January, and I had summer in my mouth. THIS was the main reason I’ve had a hard time buying citrus in Maine, and THIS is what I’ve been looking forward to enjoying while visiting Georgia and Florida.

The ingredients also happened to work well with the only bottle of alcohol we had available on the boat*, a 2 oz bottle of Barenjager, a honey liqueur.

Local honey can play in important dietary role in ensuring wellness, and for travelers like us, it’s done a good job of providing us with low doses of local pollens that help us adjust to new plants as we’ve moved down the coast. It turns out that’s probably bunk, but hey, even if it is, we love supporting local beekeepers. Nothing but good.

Here we go!

1 meyer lemon

1 orange (that beautiful pink thing in the picture is an orange)

2 oz Barenjager

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup warm water

ice

This will make about two drinks, and do play with the ratios. When I do this again, I’d double the Barenjager and back off the honey a bit. This is just what I happened to have on hand and the low alcohol ratio worked well for the role the drink played, which was as an accompaniment to brunch.

Add the Barenjager to ice in a nalgene bottle or, if you’re fancy, to a cocktail pitcher. (I see you bein’ fancy.) Juice the fruit, and don’t forget the pulpy stuff- put the whole kit and kaboodle in with the ice mixture.

Make a syrup with the honey and water. You’re looking to make about as much honey syrup as you’ve got juice. Why add it to warm water? If you just add gooey honey to this drink, it will never homogenize with everything else. It’ll just sink to the bottom.

Shake all that stuff together and get it really cold. Strain off over glasses filled with ice or just pour it out into glasses if you’re at an anchorage and ice is like gold.

Variations: Try grapefruit or blood oranges. No Barenjager? Rum will be good in this, and you can get away with vodka too, obviously. Too sweet? Back off on the honey syrup. Play with all these ratios, taste this drink as you make it.

*Note: We do have a bottle of Coruba Rum, however, that is a gift that is to be opened when we get to our southernmost point in our trip this year. More on that later.